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Labour’s early efforts to tackle youth unemployment are encouraging

In May, the Office of National Statistics released its latest NEET figures. They showed that numbers of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) had reached their highest levels in nearly a decade at 900,000. Alarmingly, this is not a new issue or challenge.

Youth unemployment is complex. In 2011 we saw the highest NEET levels on record. Then one million young people were NEET, nearly one in five of them at that time. In the 13 years since, the world has changed dramatically. The impacts of austerity, Brexit, COVID, the global and national economic and political challenges all still being felt.

In our Youth Voice Census, young people have told us these last seven years how their confidence in their future and themselves is falling. And barriers to employment are becoming ever more complex, and particularly for those with protected characteristics or additional needs.

Employers in turn tell us about their economic concerns, and that when they hire they see a huge skills gap in the workforce. Hybrid working affects their ability to offer the critical experiences young people need to develop their knowledge, behaviours and skills.

We have seen a plethora of government interventions, but little innovation. There have been cuts to youth services and Connexions, ESF programmes closed to make way for Shared Prosperity Funding, and Education Business Partnerships closed to make way for LEPs and now LSIPs. Devolution is playing a greater role and changes to education pathways, apprenticeships and welfare appear never-ending. And I could go on!

Against this backdrop, it is easy to see the scale of the challenge and why any government would find the the road ahead a challenging one to start down. But the payoff is worth it.

According to research from Youth Futures Foundation, bringing the level of NEET down to match some of the lower levels seen across Europe would boost our economy by £38 billion.

Combining careers advice and personalised support makes a real difference

And the payoff is not just financial: there is a scarring impact for young people who spend time NEET in terms of their health and economic futures, as well as for our communities.

This week, the new secretary of state for work and pensions, Liz Kendall has begun to set out her plans to help people back (and young people in) to work. The challenge of economic inactivity and unemployment is a pressing one for her department.

Labour had already committed to a Young Person’s Guarantee: a commitment that young people aged 18 to 21 would receive support to access a training or apprenticeship opportunity. This is something the Youth Employment Group had called for, so it is welcome.

Kendall has also now confirmed a commitment to bringing the National Careers Service and Jobcentre Plus together. This will mean that at a local level, unemployed people will get careers support as well as the work coach support they need to connect with local opportunities.

This is a very positive move from Labour. We know through the Youth Voice Census that still too many young people have not had the careers support they need to make that confident transition into employment. Access to in-person, tailored guidance is really important to them, and when good careers advice and personalised support come together, it makes a real difference.

There is still much more to do, and this move from Labour is just one of many we will need to see if they are to turn the tide on youth employment. But it certainly points to a new era for supported services, and we look forward to working with the government as they take their next steps on this challenging road.

Manchester mayor builds support for MBacc

The vision of mayor Andy Burnham’s Manchester Baccalaureate (MBacc) took a step further yesterday as he held a summit between business and education leaders. FE Week reporter Josh Mellor visited the event to find out more about the perception of this “alternative EBacc” set to launch in September…

Burham appeared energised and confident as he addressed the room, drawing a laugh at the irony of trying to speak over the din of a heavy drill from a neighbouring construction site as he tries to galvanise support for his “integrated” technical education plan, dubbed the MBacc.

In front of him, around round tables, sat hundreds of school, sixth-form and college leaders, business representatives and Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) staff acting as “facilitators”.

The all-day event – which included “collaborative sessions” about how to make the proposal a reality – was organised by the mayor in a bid to get more schools and employers from the region signed up to work with Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) to offer a different pathway to the government’s current English Baccalaureate (EBacc).

This could, in some quarters of central government, be seen as a potential regional rebellion against the English education system’s alleged bias towards academic subjects.

In short, the MBacc is a list of core and optional GCSE subjects that will steer pupils towards technical training routes leading to in-demand jobs in the local economy.

This contrasts with the EBacc, a Conservative-government measure of schools’ academic success that promotes five core subjects, English, maths, science, a modern language and either history or geography.

Like the EBacc, the MBacc suggests core GCSEs in English language and literature, maths and sciences but also ICT.

However, instead of languages and humanities as options, it steers students towards engineering, design and technology, business studies, drama, music or performing arts.

Fresh from the metro-mayor’s well-publicised visit to Downing Street after Labour’s election victory last week, Burnham said he has a “willing audience at the heart of government”.

“The big message is, if we don’t fix technical education, that will be a risk to the growth that we all want to see,” he added.

He slammed the “snobbery” around technical education in England and the “obsession” with the university route, which is only followed by about a third of students in his area.

He said: “That is what the MBacc is all about – let’s give everyone growing up here a clear and equal path in life.”

‘Colleges have fought tirelessly to get that buy in’

Echoing the language of the new Labour government, Burnham said promoting a “clear and equal” pathway for young people to get technical work is a “Manchester mission”.

But despite the independence Greater Manchester now has, both the mayor and attendees recognised that much of his vision will not be possible without the government’s support due to the way schools are judged by Ofsted by taking account of EBacc take-up and the need for funding for expert teachers and equipped classrooms.

From September this year, the GMCA will offer a “toolkit” of careers advice with graphics showing a student’s progress route through GCSEs, then T Levels, apprenticeships or technical qualifications, followed by “great jobs or higher education”.

Seven technical “gateways” have been laid out, leading to work in key industries that match in demand sectors in Greater Manchester’s economy.

Alongside this, the GMCA wants to use its regional influence and careers advice website “GMACS” to offer work experience opportunities.

GMCA also plans to offer schools a package of support with the technical route for students, with the hope that it can be built up so “every” young person who wants one has an “integrated” technical educational pathway by 2030.

The combined authority team will connect schools to the Careers Enterprise Company to offer 50 hours of “high quality” work experience, tailored to each gateway for years 9 to 11.

There will also be an Annual Festival of Technical Education hosted by GMColleges, to raise awareness of technical education pathways.

But signing up to the MBacc offer will be voluntary, the GMCA will not offer any incentives or publish any league tables showing which schools, or how many students, are participating.

Despite therefore risking appearing as a branding exercise, moving towards the MBacc is a step in the right direction for Anna Dawe, chief executive at Wigan and Leigh College. She said: “For me, as someone who’s worked in education now for over 30 years, [it’s great] to hear technical education being promoted and told that it is just as valid a pathway as an academic pathway, and to actually get buy-in from employers in a city region such as this.

“As FE colleges, we have fought tirelessly to try and get that sort of buy in, but for employers to actually be incentivized to be part of it, that that puts technical education in a very, very different space.

“The mayor can broker conversations with employers in a different way to the way that colleges can and that is incredibly welcome, and also it just puts it out there at a very, very top strategic level.”

Policy issues

The mayor admitted there are “policy issues that might stand in the way” of his vision.

Appearing to address his Labour government directly, he pleaded that funding for BTECs and other level 3 alternatives to T Levels should not be withdrawn as currently planned, estimating that this would affect 4,500 learners in Greater Manchester.

He also raised concerns about apprenticeships increasingly being accessed by older people.

Greater Manchester’s schools and colleges will also need more “capital” to build learning spaces for technical subjects to be taught in.

Chris Cox, vice principal at Ashton Sixth Form College said: “Originally when this was first launched a year ago I thought it was about a separate qualification.

“But now I understand that it’s a collection of GCSEs I’m much more supportive.

“I think it has real potential… but I do worry ever so slightly, are we asking students to make very, very specific choices that might be wrong, that might narrow their opportunities later on?”

Claire Cronin, headteacher at West Hill School in Stalybridge, said: “I think the principal [of a technical pathway] is 100 per cent needed because there’s a gap between the amount of children who take a skills and academically-supported route.

“About 70 per cent of children fit the mould of not following the traditional university academic pathway.

“It perpetuates the skills divide of those children following in that and going into lower pay work or falling into NEET.”

However, Cronin added that she had “some hesitation” about teacher recruitment after recently truing to find a design and technology teacher for two and a half years.

James Eldon, principal of Manchester Academy, said: “Andy has forced the conversation around students who don’t do the EBacc – that’s long overdue.”

DWP to merge Jobcentre Plus and National Careers Service

The National Careers Service will be merged with job centres across the country in a bid to tackle economic inactivity as part of the government’s back to work plan.

New work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall today set out plans for a national jobs and careers service by merging the two separate public services into one.

Kendall also confirmed one of Labour’s manifesto pledges that 18-to-21-year-olds will be “guaranteed” access to training, an apprenticeship, or support to find work – but details on what will change exactly have not yet been released.

Under the Department for Work and Pensions’ plans, the combination of more than 600 Jobcentre Plus offices in the UK and the National Careers Service will “support those seeking better opportunities with the means to find better paid work”.

The merger appears to be promoting a cultural shift of not just getting those on benefits and unemployed people from long-term sickness into jobs, experts say.

The Department for Education-funded National Careers Service is a free service to anyone that offers advice and guidance on training and careers. Whereas, Jobcentre Plus is a job support service exclusively for benefits claimants and run by DWP.

Stephen Evans, chief executive of Learning and Work Institute (L&W), said: “I think it [the merger] makes sense, not least as most National Careers Service customers are referred from Jobcentre Plus.”

What we need from a revived national careers service policy

The merger comes in line with the government’s new target to raise the employment rate to 80 per cent.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said earlier this week that the government’s main focus was creating “sustained economic growth” through reforming the skills system and tackling economic inactivity.

Achieving the 80 per cent employment rate could boost the economy by £25 billion and save the taxpayer £8 billion per year, according to analysis from the Learning and Work Institute.

Evans said. “To deliver this, the government needs to offer help to everyone who wants to work: today, only 1 in 10 out-of-work disabled people get help to find work each year. There also needs to be better join-up of work, health and skills support, and the government will need to work with employers on how they recruit.”

Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said: “We’ll create more good jobs, make work pay, transform skills, and overhaul jobcentres, alongside action to tackle the root causes of worklessness including poor physical and mental health.”

‘A good start’

Meanwhile, details on how the government will roll out the “youth guarantee”, which aims to drive down the number of NEETs (not in education, employment or training), are yet to be determined.

Official figures from the Office for National Statistics show the number of NEETs amongst young people aged 16 to 24 are on the rise.

As of March 2024, an estimated 900,000 young people were classed as NEET, equating to 1 in 8 of all young people in the UK, and up 1.1 percentage points from the previous year.

Evans said L&W had been calling for a youth guarantee since 2018 to apply to 16–24-year-olds but that narrower age cohort “is a good start”.

The application of this guarantee, he added, will need better joined up support and better incentives for apprenticeships for young people in the apprenticeship levy

“I would be measuring the success of the guarantee by a sustained reduction in the proportion of young people NEET in England over time, and also by an increase in the proportion qualified to at least level 3 and in work that pays at least the Living Wage,” Evans said.

Jacqui Smith: 10 facts about the new skills, FE and HE minister

Jacqui Smith has been appointed as the Department for Education’s new minister for skills, further and higher education by prime minister Sir Keir Starmer.

The former teacher returns to government 16 years after her time as a no-nonsense home secretary ended amid the expenses scandal, and 25 years after her first ministerial role at the then-Department for Education and Employment.

Since losing her Redditch seat in the 2010 general election, Smith has split her time between the serious job of chairing large, under-pressure NHS hospital trusts and more good-humoured media appearances as a commentator, podcaster and Strictly Come Dancing contestant.

Here are ten things we know about the returning minister:

An unelected minister – Smith has not been an MP for 14 years, but will be made a junior minister with responsibility for skills, further and higher education (her exact title is yet to be confirmed by DfE) through an appointment to the House of Lords. This is not unusual, according to the House of Commons Library, about a fifth of government ministers (20-25) have been peers in every government since 1979.
An “old hand” – Smith was elected in the New Labour landslide in 1997. Between 1999 to 2009 she had a series of stints as a minister in education, health, trade and industry, education again, the treasury, and famously as the first female Home Secretary. But education was “the best department” to work in, the former teacher said.
A “Whole of government” role – Smith told fellow podcast presenter Iain Dale skills is seen as “a central thing” for Labour’s growth strategy, so she’ll be “trotting off” knocking on various people’s doors. She has previously praised the role of a minister of state, which is not in cabinet and junior to the Education Secretary. She told the Institute for Government: “You really get to work on the detail of it and the policy development.”
Oxbridge educated… – Born 1961 to parents who were both Labour councillors, Smith grew up in Worcestershire, where she attended school and sixth form. Smith studied politics, philosophy and economics at Oxford University, at the same college her new boss, education secretary Bridget Phillipson, graduated from 20 years later. After university, she worked for a Labour MP.
…With college credentials – In the 1980s, the former home secretary moved back to Worcestershire and trained to be a teacher at Worcester College of Higher Education (now a university). She taught business and economics at Worcester Sixth Form and then Haybridge High School, Hagley, while also serving as a Labour councillor. Her former boss at both schools, headteacher Melvyn Kershaw, said he was “delighted by her teaching and commitment to the school and its students”.
Facing terrorism – Within days of starting at the Home Office in 2007, Smith dealt with attempted car bombings in London and Glasgow. She soon pushed for controversial 42-day detention rules for terrorism suspects and compulsory identity cards. The former was later dropped by Gordon Brown and the latter scrapped by the Conservatives in 2010. She also pushed for more neighbourhood policing, tried to improve the Home Office and reclassified cannabis from a class C to class B drug, despite admitting smoking it herself at university.
Expenses scandal – Smith’s time as home secretary, and in government, came to an end in 2009 after the expenses scandal. She later apologised for using her MP’s second home allowance to pay for her main home in Redditch and for claiming the cost of pornographic films her husband had watched on expenses. In 2007-08, she claimed £157,631 on top of her regular earnings, the third highest MP’s claim that year. This included £40,000 a year on her ex-husband Stephen Timney’s salary for being her assistant. Speaking about the scandal this week, she said: “I think, after 14 years, I perhaps have done my time, and therefore I don’t have any guilt about it.”
Merging hospitals under the Tories – For the last decade, Smith has chaired the boards of some of England’s largest NHS hospital trusts, first in Birmingham and later in east London. She successfully merged trusts in Birmingham, although concerns have since emerged about patient safety, culture and leadership during her time there. In 2021, she was appointed ‘chair-in-common’ of two trusts serving east London, with a view to merging them into one ‘group’, but this was shelved in January.
Part-time NHS chair, part-time celeb – Since leaving government Smith has frequently appeared in the media, including presenting a documentary on pornography, co-presenting a podcast, reviewing the news on Good Morning Britain and competing in Strictly Come Dancing (being voted out in the first round) while chairing an NHS trust. She faced a backlash for appearing on the dance show in late 2020, while University Hospitals Birmingham NHS foundation trust faced extreme pressures during the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Missed calls from the prime minister – Speaking on the final episode of her podcast, Smith said she was on a “special weekend” away with her family in Wales when she missed several calls from Sir Keir Starmer’s office. The next day, after England had beat Switzerland in a penalty shootout, she took a call from the prime minister and accepted a role as minister of state for education, overseeing further, higher education and skills.

OfS chair Lord Wharton suddenly resigns

Lord Wharton has resigned as chair of the Office for Students six months before his term of office was due to end.

The Conservative peer suddenly stood down days after the election of a Labour government.

It also follows a damning report last year from a House of Lords committee slamming the higher education regulator’s political independence. University and College Union general secretary Jo Grady called on Wharton to resign at the time.

Wharton was appointed in February 2021 by the then education secretary Gavin Williamson, for a four-year term. He was made a life peer in 2020 after serving as an MP and minister between 2010 and 2017.

As OfS chair, Wharton received an annual salary of £59,000, set by DfE, for two days a week.

An un-named Department for Education spokesperson thanked Wharton “for his service as chair of the Office for Students through a period of change and challenge at the OfS”.

Wharton’s term at the OfS was mired in controversy.

The peer, who led Boris Johnson’s Conservative party leadership campaign, faced calls for an investigation after speaking at an event alongside Zsolt Bayer, a Hungarian talk show host with known racist and antisemitic views.

The government was forced to defend Wharton’s appointment at the OfS against accusations of cronyism.

On today’s resignation, the DfE spokesperson added: “Lord Wharton’s resignation has been accepted. The process to appoint an interim chair is underway, and a permanent replacement will be announced in due course.”

How football helps our college build community beyond the pitch

The current buzz around Euro 2024 adds an important aspect to our community engagement work through football.

As teams from across Europe compete, showing off their extraordinary teamwork and skills, we can actually see the role that football plays in bringing people together.

It’s a timely reminder that while our own efforts are on a much smaller scale, the impact on community and local pride can be just as significant.

As FE providers, we are constantly looking for ways to connect more deeply with our local communities.

A re-energised partnership between South Devon College and Torquay United Football Club is a promising example of what can be achieved.

It’s a collaboration that goes beyond the football pitch, a model for how FE colleges can play a more important role in developing community engagement and creating new opportunities for students and the wider community.

Our work with Torquay United starts with supporting the club’s youth programme, which covers age groups from under-8s to under-19s. Hosting the Torquay United FC Under-19 Football Academy on our campus provides a pathway for young talents to progress into the first team while enrolled on a full-time study programme at the college.

This initiative helps to develop young football talent, increases accessibility to the sport, and brings together families, friends, and local supporters. In short, it creates a sense of community pride and inclusivity.

The college’s sports centre is the official training ground for Torquay United’s first team. This state-of-the-art facility, with 3G pitch and other specialist resources for supporting sports science, nutrition, and fitness, offers the team a professional environment to learn, train and recover.

In exchange, and beyond football, our students get valuable hands-on experience. We are designated the official education partner of Torquay United, creating a variety of work placements for our students within the club’s operations, from sports science to marketing, event management and more. These experiences help students build relationships with local professionals and fans, embedding the college further within the community.

These placements are integral to student development, offering real-world experience and the opportunity to apply academic knowledge in professional settings. By working in different capacities within the football club, students can apply their academic knowledge and develop skills that are valuable in any professional setting.

Through this direct involvement, students enhance their learning experiences and employability, and make valuable connections with local professionals and fans alike, reinforcing college-community ties.

And community engagement is key. We regularly organise community days that invite local children and youth groups to take part in activities at both the college and the football club.

These events, offering thousands of free and discounted tickets to Torbay’s youth via local primary schools, aim to inspire and involve the next generation, promoting physical activity and academic/professional aspirations.

By bringing together different segments of the community — from young children to their parents and local businesses — we help create a shared sense of pride and connection.

The partnership includes plans to support lifelong learning and career development. Torquay United staff will have access to a range of courses provided by South Devon College, including apprenticeships and adult education programs.

This aspect of the collaboration shows the college’s commitment to support people in the community advancing in their careers and illustrates how both partners benefit from working together.

Even though this partnership aims to boost the public perception of our college, I think it’s also helpful to the wider further education and skills sector.

By actively engaging with local initiatives and delivering tangible benefits to the community, I believe we’re demonstrating how colleges can, and do play a central role in local life.

This visibility and involvement can help to generate greater public and political support for further education.

Partnerships like this highlight the importance of building networks and nurturing relationships. The dealings between students, faculty, football club staff, and so many others create a web of connections that benefit the whole local community.

These relationships are important for the development of supportive and inclusive environments where learning and personal growth can flourish.

But, ultimately, it’s about more than football. It’s about creating opportunities, promoting community spirit, and showcasing the important role that further education colleges can play in local life.

This particular partnership model shows how further education can be both a source of learning and a centre of community engagement.

By making our story a shared story within the community, I think we are setting a positive example for the further education sector.

NCFE fined £300k for 2022 T Level exam fiasco

An awarding organisation has been fined £300,000 for “major failings” in its 2022 health and science T Level exam papers.

In a notice published this morning, exams regulator Ofqual said its “unprecedented” investigation into NCFE found several regulatory breaches that resulted in around 1,200 first-year students’ results being withdrawn and recalculated that year. Over 700 of those received amended grades.

Ofqual said NCFE failed to develop “valid” question papers for the healthcare, healthcare science, and science T Level exams in 2022 and experienced “additional issues” in 2023 relating to the management of assessment evidence from colleges.

NCFE has admitted the breaches and accepted the fine.

The awarding body, which is a charity, said it has invested in additional experts and enhanced its staff training, guidance, and procedures.

The £300,000 fine, around 0.7 per cent of NCFE’s annual income, comes as its latest accounts revealed the charity had written off over £2.5 million because of low student recruitment on the flagship T Level qualifications.

DfE recently launched a “route-by-route” review of T Level content and assessment to boost recruitment to the flagship qualification following government data confirming “worrying” dropout rates.

However, where T Levels, and the successor Advanced British Standard qualification, now stand in light of Labour’s promise of a “comprehensive post-16 education strategy” remains unclear.

‘Major failings’

NCFE’s exams fiasco began in summer 2022 after large numbers of health and science T Level students complained about receiving lower-than-expected first-year grades.

An initial Ofqual investigation found a catalogue of issues including question errors and inadequate mark schemes. The watchdog ruled that students’ grades did not validly measure their performance.

T Level students were ‘let down’ last year – but lessons have been learnt

Last year, David Gallagher, chief executive of NCFE, told FE Week the awarding body raised issues about the T Levels’ common core science content, designed by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education’s (IfATE) route panel, and queried the breadth and depth of the technical specification.

Catherine Large, Ofqual’s executive director of vocational and technical qualifications, said it has been closely monitoring NCFE since the “serious” case in 2022.

She said: “Students must have confidence in their results, whatever qualification they take. To achieve this, we set legally binding standards for all awarding organisations to adhere to.

“NCFE has co-operated throughout the enforcement process and accepts the outcome of our investigation and the fine.”

She added: “This is a serious case in which we identified major failings in 2022, and NCFE have been closely monitored by Ofqual since. I am pleased that they are committed to making significant improvements.”

Gallagher said today: “We have apologised to students, providers, and parents for the issues that occurred with the delivery of the T Level assessments, which led to regulatory action.

“Since these incidents, we’ve taken a number of measures to ensure these issues do not happen again and so that all our qualifications and assessments going forward are of the highest standard.

“This has included, among other things, enhancing our quality assurance processes, introducing a new risk management system, bringing in additional experts and resources, and enhancing our training, guidance, and procedures.

“We look forward to working collaboratively with Ofqual on our robust action plan and further strengthening our commitment to quality.”

This is the latest set of regulatory fines imposed on awarding organisations by Ofqual.

AQA was fined £1.1 million in 2019 for failing to ensure re-marks and moderations were carried out independently.

A similar issue led to a record-breaking £1.2 million penalty on Pearson in 2022.

And earlier this year, City and Guilds were fined £200,000 for errors in some of its exam materials.

Funds recovered from these fines are passed to the Treasury.

On Aug 28, Ofqual confirmed NCFE will also pay the exam body’s legal fees of £10,000.

Damian Hinds named shadow education secretary

Damian Hinds, the former education secretary and schools minister, has been named shadow education secretary in Rishi Sunak’s caretaker opposition team.

The new shadow team is only expected to remain in place until a new Conservative leader is elected.

Sunak announced he would resign as the party’s leader after its routing in Thursday’s general election, in which Labour won a landslide of 411 seats. A timetable for a leadership vote has not been set out.

It comes after Gillian Keegan, the previous education secretary, lost her seat in Parliament to the Liberal Democrats.

Previous Conservative skills minister Luke Hall and children’s minister David Johnston also lost their seats, making Hinds the only surviving MP from Sunak’s final education ministerial team.

Hinds served as education secretary in Theresa May’s administration between 2018 and 2019. He then returned to the Department for Education last November as schools minister.

He will now shadow newly-appointed education secretary Bridget Phillipson until the next Tory leader reshuffles their top team.

He is the first Conservative shadow education secretary since Michael Gove held the role in 2010.

Former chancellor Jeremy Hunt will stay on as shadow chancellor and Mel Stride has become shadow secretary of state for work and pensions.

No ‘quick and easy solutions’ to ‘major’ challenges, Phillipson warns education sector

There are no “quick and easy solutions” to the “major challenges” facing education, Bridget Phillipson has warned in her first message to sector staff.

The new education secretary said the Labour government wanted to “build a fairer society with a government that delivers the best life chances for every child”.

But there is a “lot of work to be done to realise this mission against some major challenges”.

The new government faces urgent decisions on teacher pay, FE funding from 2025, level 3 qualifications, what to do about soaring council SEND deficits and a worsening teacher recruitment and retention crisis, among other issues.

Phillipson said a “huge part” of her role was to “understand the scale of the challenges you are facing, and the support needed to fix them”.

“The scar of child poverty, severe financial pressures squeezing all your budgets, high workload, climbing vacancy rates, strain on care, mental health and SEND services, among many other issues, have made your jobs increasingly difficult.

“This is a tough inheritance – none of these have quick and easy solutions but I will work with and for you to find practical ways forward.”

Introducing herself to staff across all of education, Phillipson said she wanted “this moment to mark a reset in our relationship”.

The new education secretary also said Labour’s manifesto pledge for 6,500 “new expert teachers” applies to colleges, as well as schools.

“Work to recruit 6,500 new expert teachers for our schools and colleges starts now, and we will be bring forward a comprehensive strategy for post-16 education … and create higher-quality training and employment paths by empowering local communities to develop the skills people need”.

She said the change needed in education was “simple to describe, but vast to deliver”.

“Government can’t do it alone – we will work with you as essential and valued partners to deliver our shared mission.

“I want to renew the trust and respect we hold for each other. My commitment to you is to listen, to draw on your wealth of experience and to act on your honest feedback.”

The text of the letter in full

To all working in early years, children’s services, schools, further and higher education,

It’s a huge privilege to write to you today to introduce myself as your new Secretary of State for Education and to thank you for your vital work.

I want this moment to mark a reset in our relationship: under this new government, education will once again be at the heart of change and the forefront of national life.

I can’t wait to start working together with you as we begin to transform our system so that young people get the skills, care and opportunities they deserve.

I know how hard you work to support our learners and families; you are key to breaking down barriers to opportunity and improving life chances for every child.

You have supported our children and young people through a great deal of disruption – guiding their curiosity, building their resilience, and helping them achieve and thrive.

You and your work are essential to the change this government wants to achieve across the country, and I want our renewed relationship to reflect that.

‘Deeply personal commitment’

My commitment to the sector is deeply personal. I grew up in a family that knew the value of a good education.

I was also fortunate enough to go to great local state schools filled with committed staff who saw the value and worth in each and every one of us.

I’m so grateful for all the people in my life who nurtured within me a love of learning and the confidence to succeed – I would not be here without them.

I know that I was very lucky, but life shouldn’t come down to luck. Lives are shaped by opportunity, but too many people simply don’t have the opportunities to succeed.

I grew up on a council street in the Northeast of England. At that time in the 1980s and early ‘90s, it was a place with many challenges, where far too many children were held back by their background. But background should be no barrier to getting on.

I am determined that we will drive change together. Working with all of you, we want to build a fairer society with a government that delivers the best life chances for every child.

That’s what motivates me and that’s why we will work tirelessly to deliver on our opportunity mission, tackling barriers like inadequate housing and child poverty that undermine family security and make it so hard for children to learn.

‘Major challenges’

There’s a lot of work to be done to realise this mission against some major challenges. A huge part of my role is to understand the scale of the challenges you are facing, and the support needed to fix them.

The scar of child poverty, severe financial pressures squeezing all your budgets, high workload, climbing vacancy rates, strain on care, mental health and SEND services, among many other issues, have made your jobs increasingly difficult.

This is a tough inheritance – none of these have quick and easy solutions but I will work with and for you to find practical ways forward.

Supported by your experience and expertise, this government will expand our early years education system, drive high and rising standards and reform curriculum and assessment.

Work to recruit 6,500 new expert teachers for our schools and colleges starts now, and we will bring forward a comprehensive strategy for post‐16 education, work with local government to provide loving, secure homes for children in care, provide support for children with SEND and their families, and create higher-quality training and employment paths by empowering local communities to develop the skills people need.

We will secure the future of our world class universities as engines of growth, ambition and opportunity for all.

‘Simple to describe, vast to deliver’

This change is simple to describe, but vast to deliver. Government can’t do it alone – we will work with you as essential and valued partners to deliver our shared mission.

I want to renew the trust and respect we hold for each other. My commitment to you is to listen, to draw on your wealth of experience and to act on your honest feedback.

As an initial step, I want to invite you to join me for a live event at 4pm on Tuesday 16 July where I’ll share more about my vision for the education system, but I really want to hear from you too.

There will be a chance for you to share your views and ask me questions in the live chat function.

I very much look forward to meeting as many of you as possible and working together to break down barriers to opportunity, give all children the best life chances and make sure there is no ceiling on the ambitions of our young people.